


cigarette smoke on a cold day

by loadgalax



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Everyone Misses Kougami, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Kougami Shinya/Ginoza Nobuchika, Minor Kougami Shinya/Tsunemori Akane, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:34:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21624616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loadgalax/pseuds/loadgalax
Summary: Akane is warned of the perils of smoking. Ginoza investigates.
Relationships: Ginoza Nobuchika/Tsunemori Akane
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	cigarette smoke on a cold day

The air is brisk on Akane's face. On any other day, she would have been grateful for her coat, but now it feels stifling, a thin sheen of sweat sticking her undershirt to her back. The therapist's question hadn't thrown her too badly, but it was still something she would have rather gone unnoticed. Her sleeves had smelled slightly of smoke.

Still, she manages to keep her gait even and her breaths measured as she reaches the Bureau car, Ginoza not far behind. She slides into the driver's seat and closes her eyes for a quiet instant. The passenger's side door opens and shuts.

"Akane." She glances over instinctively; they had gradually become accustomed to each other's first names, but only when they were sure no one else could hear. Still, she wasn't fully used to how it sounded, coming from him.

He is looking at her. Of course he is, and she knows he wants an answer. "Yes?"

A pause. And then, he reaches out - "Can I?"; she nods sheepishly - and catches her chin in his hand. Before he can ask and ensnare her further, she blows in his face. It catches him off guard, and he jolts back, then lets out a huff almost like a laugh.

"I knew it," Ginoza says after a beat. He didn't need to say it, she already knew too, knew that he had seen straight through her the second the therapist had even asked. "You aren't the type to smoke."

She wants to fire back, desperately cover up what had been exposed with an 'I could be,' but what was the point? He knew, she knew. Their relationship was nothing if not achingly transparent. And now the silence between them rings with all the things they'd left unspoken.

Ginoza breaks the silence with the one thing she hoped he wouldn't say.

"I miss him too."

The amount of meaning packed into those four words is enough to break her down. She leans on the steering wheel for support, her fingers kneading into her temples as if that could somehow jog her brain enough for her to come up with a response.

They hadn't talked about him. They hadn't said his name once, save for in the official paperwork, and Akane had been alright. She'd handled it with a smile. Just keep moving, keep working, keep solving cases and holding Ginoza's hand when they knew no one was looking, when it was too much for the both of them but there was nothing they could say. Just keep lighting cigarettes.

When it becomes clear Ginoza wasn't going to get a response, he keeps going. "You know that we... felt the same way about him." She feels guilty, hearing him tiptoe as if he was going to set off a mine, but then again, he couldn't have been that worried about her reaction if he was going to say something like that.

"We both..." she tries, pressing her forehead into her fingernails, but she can't finish the sentence.

"Loved."

She can't believe he said that.

"Don't say 'loved'." She picks herself up to look at him. His forehead crinkles with annoyance.

"Akane-"

"He isn't dead." Silence. "I love him, you love him, I love you, you love me." The words tumble out clumsier than she had been hoping, but how could something like that ever sound graceful? It's her turn to speak now, and Ginoza stays quiet. "I don't want you feeling sorry for me. I know... you miss him just as much as I do. And I know it was so much more complicated for you, so I didn't say anything. And I don't need to say anything. Maybe someday, but not now."

She's not usually this blunt, but she's frayed, and anxious, and Ginoza understands. "Sibyl won't let him come back, and he wouldn't want to even if he could. You and I can work in this system, but he... he's got other things he needs to finish." She's rationalizing. These are all things they already know, conclusions they have already drawn, but hearing them out loud makes them real.

She sighs and lets her head fall back against the seat. Ginoza's breathing is quiet. Then he says, "I never got to apologize. For how I treated him. It was a... mess, with me, him, and my father. He probably thought I hated him. And now..." He gave a wry laugh. "I'm right where he was. I wonder what he'd think of me now."

A pang of guilt runs through Akane. They should've laid it bare like this ages ago, but neither of them had had the strength. She didn't know if she did now, but Ginoza needed her. And she would always go where she was needed.

She shifts, reaches out. Their fingers thread together.

"Do you think... I'll get the chance? To tell him?" There are a few 'ever's missing from his question, but either way, she doesn't know the answer. She squeezes his hand.

Then, checking her mirrors for anyone around the car, she leans over toward the passenger's side. He presses into her arms, and she pecks his cheek. They linger for an instant, matching their breaths and drinking in the faintest hint of cigarettes.

The moment passes, and Akane's in her seat again. "We should go, don't want anyone getting suspicious."

There's a smile in Ginoza's voice, welcome after all that tension. "I don't think anyone could wrap their heads around this relationship clusterfuck, Akane."

She can't help but chuckle a little, too. "No, he'll think we're investigating without a warrant. Could be bad for the Bureau."

She hears the click of a seatbelt, and she turns the keys. The hum of the engine steadies her. Then, there's a breath on her cheek. She starts, and there's Ginoza, worrying at his lip as if he's still not used to unspoken permissions. The pause is awkward, but she parts her lips and he moves in, kissing her so lightly she could've imagined it. She revels in his closeness if only for a moment.

Then, it's over. She shifts into reverse, and they're colleagues again. She inhales, then exhales. One day at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> i actually wrote this back when season 2 was airing and i wanted ginoza and akane to talk so bad that it was all i paid attention to and boy they sure weren't letting me have it huh. it's okay tho, the movie got me good with my ginaka and ot3 agendas, ty ty ty


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